Boxcar and adaptations therefor



July 31, 1956 v. J. WARDEIN BOXCAR AND ADAPTATIONS THEREFOR 4Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 11, 1954 IN VEN TOR.

VINCENT J WAQDGIN BY MMWWX9MW ATTORNEYS July 31, 1956 v. J. WARDEIN2,756,694

BOXCAR AND ADAPTATIONS THEREFOR Filed June 11, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 viI I! '7 ice-2 7 0: ON 1 \r m w W in s m m H v n Mas/y Egg/6 39,

INVENTOR.

VINCENT 3'- WAR-OEIN July 31, 1956 v. J. WARDEIN 2,756,694

BOXCAR AND ADAPTATIONS THEREFOR Filed June 11, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 V wIt; 2H

a (\l v Q g Q N Q L 31 3 L INVENTOR.

VINCENT J WARDEIN ATTORNEYS July 31, 1956 v. J. WARDEIN BOXCAR ANDADAPTATIONS THEREFOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 11, 1954 INVENTOR.VINCENT J'- WARDEIN 47' TOENEKS BOXCAR AND ADAPTAT'IONS THEREFOR VincentJoseph Wardein, Alton, llll.

Application June 11, 1954, Serial No. 435,988

3 Claims. (Cl. 105-378) This invention relates to a box car andadaptations therefor with result that a standard box car may be alteredin minor degree and adapted to receive therein loads occupying itsloading space to the greatest efficiency while being adapted to receivesuch loads when delivered from ground level approach as can be made byconventional fork-lift equipment.

Box cars do not now have doors which extend for substantially thelongitudinal length of the loading space but rather such doors onlyextend longitudinally over part or" the loading space length with theconsequence that loads of substantial length, such as pipes, beams,lumber, and the like, if loaded in a standard box car often leavesubstantial space unoccupied as the longitudinal opening in standarddoors will only admit load lengths which at best may be inserteddiagonally into the car within the limits of such conventional doorlength and the width of the car.

As a primary object this invention sets out to adapt conventional boxcars to receive therein unitary load items which may extend for slightlyless than half the length of the car and which may be handled in amanner to be loaded without consideration of the width of the car, whileat the same time any excess space at the ends of the load may beoccupied by loads of lesser strength and by accessory loads.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved box car ofthe class hereinabove described which is adapted to protect the doorsthereof from any transverse outwardly shifting of loads.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a box car whichmay receive loads therein from either side in a manner that the longloads placed in the main loading space on one side may be longer thanthe long loads placed therein from the other side while the end spaceslongitudinally outwardly of such long loads may be effectively loaded.

Other and further objects will be apparent when the description andclaims hereinbelow are considered in connection with the drawings inwhich:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of a box car depicting anembodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view taken along line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional elevation of part of the box car shownin Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional elevation taken along line 5-5 ofFigure 3;

Figure 6 is an enlarged transverse sectional elevation taken along line6-6 of Figure 4; and

Figure 7 is a partial sectional elevation showing half of a box car witha load on one side which extends for substantially half the length ofthe main loading space.

Referring in detail to the drawings a box car 10 is shown havingconventional traction wheels 11, ladder 12, top 14, and transverse ends15. Doors 16 and 16' 2,756,694 Patented July 31, 1956 are shown whichextend from the transverse central plane of the car over the greaterpart of the distance to the ends 15. Box car side wall members 17,defining the ends of the loading and unloading opening of the box car,are also shown longitudinally outwardly of the doors 16 and 16 andoutwardly of such members 17 are shown side wall panels 18, 18' withmounting rungs 19 on the panels 18 and 18.

Extending longitudinally down the center line of the car a bracing andseparating structure 20 is shown in Figures 2 and 3. Such structureincludes a center upright member 21 and a diagonally upwardly extendingcross-bracing truss structure 22 toed at the base of the upright 21 andtop-connected at '23 to the car top structure. From the point 23 asimilar cross-bracing truss structure 24 extends to the inner bases ofthe car ends 15. Thus the truss structures 22 and 24 form separation ordivision elements especially at the upper levels of the car.

End cargo loading compartments 25 are provided for accessory loading toreceive small items. This compartmentation may be effected, as shown inFigure 5, by dividing the car ends from the main cargo space as by beams26 extending from an upright 27, with cross-bracing elements 28 beingprovided below and above the beams. This structure serves the additionalpurpose of bracing the central load against longitudinal shiftsendwardly.

As shown in general in Figure 1 each door 16, 16 extends endwardly fromthe center of the car and in order to load the space inwardly of a door16', it is necessary that such doors 1 6, 16' slide one outwardly of theother. To this end, as shown most clearly in Figure 6, the trackenclosure 28 is provided on each side outwardly of the main hullstructure of the car and such enclosure has therein the horizontallydisposed tracks 29 and 30 near the top thereof with the track 29 beingpositioned above the track 3t) and extending farther outwardly than suchtrack 30 therebelow. Thus door 16 may be supported by rollers 31 rollingupon track 29 in a manner to slide without conflict outwardly of door 16which is supported by rollers 31' which roll upon track 30. Bottom guideslots 32, 33 provided for the doors 16 and 16 respectively, serve inmaintaining the doors in substantial vertical parallelism. By thisconstruction the doors may be rolled into coincidence so that half ofthe longitudinal length of the main loading space is accessible for theinsertion of lengthy loads.

Handling equipment as now provided includes a number of devices adaptedto support loads with longitudinal axes substantially parallel to thesides of box cars and to move such loads in and lift them byconventional forklift equipment to a loadable elevation with relation tothe floor of a box car. As best shown in Figure 7 such a load 34 hasbeen moved in and loaded while inner car door 16 has been rolled backfull length and is fully covered by a car door 16, and thus is notvisible in this figure.

A post 35 adjacent the side wall member 17 has thereon a latching means36 to co-operate with the latching means 36 on the ends of the doors 16,16' to latch these doors in closed position.

In cases when it may be practicable to load lengthy articles into carswith axis extending substantially horizontally but at an angle to thelongitudinal center line of a box car the main load can be loaded at adiagonal limit and permitted by the center bracing and partitionstructure of the car to extend substantially longer than the length ofone door. When such a major load has been loaded the doors 16, 16' maybe rolled back in parallelism to the formerly open sided and now loadedend of the car and space will thus be left for easy and full loading ofthe remaining space which is less than the length of a single door.

As is inherent in railroad transportation, as when curves are traversed,loads permitted lateral movement will shift, and in the types of carswith doors of the length disclosed in this invention such outwardlylateral shifting of a load could easily cause the load to break outsidewardly through a long door which is not structurally positionablefor extra bracing. To avoid this occurrence, a fence assembly isprovided and includes an angle 37 mounted inside the car on each sideand spaced below the top 14 and provided with longitudinally spacedapart holes 38 in its horizontal flange. A plurality of upstanding bars39 are intended to have their upper ends inserted through the holes 38.Extending parallel to the angle 37 a rod or rail 40 is provided andconnected thereto at each end of the angle. Rings 41 are provided toslide upon such rod or rail 40 and a chain 42 connects each ring 41 to abar 39. The box car is provided with the usual fioor 44. Sockets 43 areprovided below the holes 38 in the floor 44 of the car and the upperends of the bars 39 are first inserted through the holes 38 and then thelower ends are lowered into the sockets 43. Thus, as shown in Figure 4,after the load has been loaded the bars 39 may be placed in position toprevent the load from shifting outwardly to injure or rupture the doors16 and 16, as can best be observed from a consideration of Figure 6.

it can easily be seen from a consideration of Figure 7 that duringloading and unloading the bars 39 may be removed from obstructing thesideward loading space simply by lifting each rod upwardly to extendthrough its hole 33 toward the car top 14 to free the lower end of thebar from its socket 43, then since the hole 38 is of greater diameterthan the bar 39 the bar 39 may be shifted laterally to permit its upperend to be lowered downwardly through hole 38 after which the bars may bemoved along the rail 40 toward an end of the car to such a distance aswill leave free the desired sideward loading space.

With regard to the fence assembly for bridging the loading and unloadingopening in the box car, it will be seen that the fence assembly will, inessence, comprise the rail 41) which is adapted to be fixedly positionedlongitudinally of and in overhead relation with respect to the caropening, the plurality of upstanding bars 39 which are arranged insideby-side abutting relation and positioned below and adjacent one endof the rail with their upper ends flexibly connected by means of thechains 42 to the rail 45 for sliding movement therealong, the anglemember 37 which has one leg thereof defining a ledge extending inwardlyhaving a row of longitudinally spaced openings transversely therethroughto define means ar ranged in fixed relation along and adjacent the rail40 for receiving the upper ends of the bars 39 when the latter are movedto spaced positions along the rail, and the sockets 43 which arearranged in a longitudinal row in spaced relation to each other and inalignment with the openings in the ledge of the angle member 37 andwhich define means arranged in fixed relation below and in alignmentwith the first mentioned means to receive the lower ends of the bars 39when they are moved to the spaced positions along the rail 40.

Although a single embodiment of this invention has been shown anddescribed, it is pointed out that various modifications and alterationsshould fall within the broad spirit thereof, such as a car not havingthe end compartments 25 and cars otherwise not longitudinally centrallydivided, along with many other variations and modifications. Broadlythis invention states its inclusion of these and many othermodifications and variations as may fall within its scope as hereinasserted, and within the scope claimed and merited for the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A fence assembly for bridging the loading and unloading opening in abox car, said fence assembly comprising a rail fixedly carried by thebox car and positioned in bridging relation to the car opening and inoverhead relation with respect, to the car opening, a plurality ofupstanding bars arranged in side-by-side abutting relation positionedbelow and adjacent one end of said rail and having their upper endsconnected to said rail for sliding movement therealong, means arrangedin fixed relation along and adjacent said rail to receive the upper endsof the bars when the latter are moved to spaced positions along saidrail, and other means arranged in fixed relation below and in alignmentwith said first-mentioned means to also receive the lower ends of thebars when moved to said spaced positions along said rail.

2. A fence assembly for bridging the loading and unloading opening in abox car, said fence assembly comprising a rail fixedly carried by thebox car and positioned in bridging relation to the car opening and inoverhead relation with respect to the car opening, a plurality ofupstanding bars arranged in side-by-side abutting relation positionedbelow and adjacent one end of said rail, a chain extending between theupper end of each of said bars and said rail to define a flexibleconnection therebetween and arranged for sliding movement along saidrail, means arranged in fixed relation along and adjacent said rail toreceive the upper ends of the bars when the latter are moved to spacedpositions along said rail, and other means arranged in fixed relationbelow and in alignment with said first-mentioned means to also receivethe lower ends or" the bars when moved to said spaced positions alongsaid rail.

3. A fence assembly for bridging the loading and unloading opening in abox car, said fence assembly com prising a rail fixedly carried by thebox car and positioned in bridging relation to the car opening and inoverhead relation with respect to the car opening, a plurality ofupstanding bars arranged in side-by-side abutting relation positionedbelow and adjacent one end of said rail, a chain extending between theupper end of each of said bars and said rail to define a flexibleconnection therebetween and arranged for sliding movement along saidrail, means arranged in fixed relation along and adjacent said rail toreceive the upper ends of the bars when the latter are moved to spacedpositions along said rail, and other means arranged in fixed relationbelow and in alignment with said first-mentioned means to also receivethe lower ends of the bars when moved to said spaced positions alongsaid rail, said first-mentioned means comprising a ledge fixedly carriedby the box car and extending inwardly thereof above and parallel to saidrail and said ledge having a row of spaced openings transverselytherethrough in which the upper ends of the bars are received, said.other means including a row of spaced sockets in and opening through thetop of the box car floor, with a socket in vertical alignment with arespective one of said openings and in which is received the lower endof a bar whose upper end is received in said respective one of saidopenings.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,607,511 Brady Nov. 16, 1926 1,610,772 Gregg Dec. 14, 1926 1,634,779Gregg July 5, 1927 1,674,752 Wasberg et al June 26, 1928 2,169,677Burrell Aug. 15, 1939 2,177,076 Pierce Oct. 24, 1939 2,287,852 ZyaraJune 30, 1942 2,497,683 Nampa et al, Feb. 14, 1950 2,569,966 Cox May 30,1950 2,617,369 Udstad Nov. 11, 1952

